Family treasures game

ABSTRACT

The game is primarily designed to be played by family members. Examples of family members are immediate family, brother, sister, parents and distant relatives like grandmother, grandfather, cousins, etc. A minimum of five players are required to participate in the playing of the game. Further, three additional players may, if desired, be designated as a timekeeper, scorer or reader. The game may, if desired, be played with one additional player by having the single player act as reader, timekeeper and scorer. There is a deck of cards wherein each has a top surface and a bottom surface. The top surface is blank or may, if desired, have filigree about the edges of the card. The bottom surface has a question about the family of the related player. Further, the question side of the card may, if desired, contain questions on the lineage of the player.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The family game industry comprises a plurality of different types of games. Some games provide the players with rewards for answering questions correctly. Other games involve the players with the elements of chance. Still other types of games stimulate the players' minds and sharpen their skills in being prepared to answer detailed questions on a variety of topics.

Family games may be elaborate or very simplistic in their presentation of questions and answers. An example of an elaborate trivia type game is one that is broadcast on television. These types of games have to some extent gained in popularity. A trivia master asks a question to a contestant and the contestant answers the question correctly or loses something of value. This process continues until a given amount of things of value have been won or the allotted time for the game show has expired. On the other end of the spectrum is the flash card game. A deck of cards has one side displaying a question and the other side displaying the answer to the question. One player of the game asks a question of another player wherein that player must answer the question correctly to gain something of value. If the player answers the question incorrectly he loses something of value. Prizes, points, and scores are generally the things of value that are awarded to the players who answers questions correctly. These items are also the things that must be given up by the players who answer questions incorrectly. The very nature of these games suggests winning or losing instead of family education.

Attempts in the past have been unsuccessful in remedying the problem of providing a family educational game, stimulating players to answer questions correctly, rewarding to successful players and increasing training of less successful players while enhancing the education of all the players involved. One such attempt is a game involving a map of one state in the United States, a die, matching player icons, and score keeping. The game also includes a compass for directing a player around the various regions of the United States in an effort to teach the player about a particular state in the United States.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a family treasures game. The present invention is played by a family wherein all of the players are related. The game teaches the players about their family history, both living and deceased.

The present invention is primarily designed to be played by family members. Examples of family members are immediate family, brother, sister, parents and distant relatives like grandmother, grandfather, cousins, etc. A minimum of five players is required to participate in the playing of the game. Further, three additional players may, if desired, be designated as reader, timekeeper or scorer. The game may, if desired, be played with one additional player acting as the reader, timekeeper and scorer. There is a deck of cards wherein each has a top surface and a bottom surface. The top surface is blank or may, if desired, have filigree about the edges of the card. The bottom surface has a question about the family of the related player. Further, the question side of the card may, if desired, contain questions on the lineage of the player.

If desired another player may participate in the game and be designated as the announcer of the game. The announcer's primary function is to explain the game by passing out booklets detailing the nature and course of the game. Each booklet is color coordinated with the color of the love circle members. The announcer starts the game and moderates the progress of the game.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims and reading the following detailed description of embodiment of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is illustrated in the drawings in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures of which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view the present invention,

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic view of the bag holding the love circle members of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 illustrates detailed instruction booklets for FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 illustrates the process flow of FIG. 1,

FIG. 5 illustrates both sides of a love circle member of the present invention,

FIG. 6 illustrates a prospective view of a deck of question cards for FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a family treasures game generally illustrated at 10, FIG. 1. The present invention 10 is played by a family wherein all of the players are related. The game teaches the players about their family history, both living and deceased. Examples of family members are immediate family, brother, sister, parents and distant relatives like grandmother, grandfather, cousins, etc. A minimum of five players is required to play of the game. Further, three additional players may, if desired, be designated as reader 12 FIG. 4, timekeeper 11 or scorer 13. The game may, if desired, be played with one additional player acting as the reader 12, timekeeper 11 and scorer 13. There is a deck 15, FIG. 6 of cards wherein each has a top surface and a bottom surface. The top surface is blank or may, if desired, have filigree about the edges of the card. The bottom surface has a question about the family of the player. Further, the question side of the card may, if desired, contain questions on the lineage of the player.

If desired another player may participate in the game and be designated as the announcer of the game. The announcer's primary function is to explain the game by passing out booklets 14, FIG. 4 detailing the nature and course of the game. Each booklet 14, FIG. 3 is color coordinated with the color of the love circle members. Further, the announcer starts the game and moderates the progress of the game.

The announcer explains to all players that there are a plurality of colored love circle members. Each member has a circular body. The circular body has a top and bottom surface. The top surface 18, FIG. 5 has an indicia of selected numbers and the bottom surface 17, FIG. 5 has an indicia of selected letters. The color of the love circle members are red, blue, green and yellow. All colored love circle members are placed in a colored bag. The bag color 16 may, if desired, be red, blue, green, yellow, gold or a combination of these colors. Further, the announcer explains that a single colored love circle member is withdrawn from the bag by each player. After all members withdraw a colored love circle member from the bag the excess colored love circle members are removed from the bag. Players place their colored love circle members into the bag. Once an appropriate number of players are assembled with like colors the announcer begins the first round of play.

The first round of play begins by the reader 12, FIG. 1 withdrawing one love circle member and announcing the color of the member, the number of the member from the top surface 18 of the member and the letter of the from the bottom side of the member 17. An example of this process, the reader 12 withdraws a love circle member from the bag of participating players and announces the color i.e. red, blue, green or yellow. Further, the reader 12 announces the number of the love circle member i.e. one to twenty six and announces the letter of the love circle member i.e. A to Z. The player that the love circle member identified is read the question of the first card drawn by the reader 12. The player has one minute to answer the question correctly. The time period is monitored by the timekeeper 11. If the player answers the question correctly he receives one point. The one point would be recorded by the scorer 13 and the player is asked a second question. This process of answering questions, receiving points and recording points continues until the player answers a question incorrectly. Once the player answers a question incorrectly the round of play stops and another love circle member is withdrawn from the bag. The process of withdrawing a love circle member reading the color of the member, number, letter of the member, answering questions and recording the score of the player continues until all love circle members are withdrawn from the bag 16, FIG. 2.

There are four colors plus for four rounds of play. The final fifth round is the gold round. The player of each group of like players that has the highest score wins the round of play, wins a prize and advances to the final round of play or the final gold round. There are only four players in the final gold round of play. The four players are ranked from the highest score to the lowest score. The reader 12, FIG. 1 begins reading questions from the deck of cards 15, FIG. 6 directed to the first player of the final gold round. The highest score player. This player continues to answer the reader's 12 questions until the player answers a question incorrectly and then the final score is tabulated by the scorer. The process of asking questions continues until the next player inline and continues until all of the players have been quizzed. The scorer then announces the highest scoring player and that player is given a prize.

Although only a few exemplary embodiments of this invention have been described in detail above, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the exemplary embodiments without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined in the following claims, means-plus-function clause is intended to cover the structures described herein as performing the recited function and not only structural equivalents but also equivalent structures. Thus, although a nail and a screw may not be structural equivalents in that a nail employs a cylindrical surface to secure wooden parts together, whereas a screw employs a helical surface, in the environment of fastening wooden parts, a nail and a screw may be equivalent structures. 

I claim: 1) A process of family related players all assembled about the game, comprising: a) a plurality of colored love circle members each having a circular body, said circular body having a top and bottom surface, said top surface having an indicia of selected numbers, said bottom surface having an indicia of selected letters; b) a single colored love circle member is withdrawn from a bag by each player; c) said colored love circle members are color coordinated to identify groups of like colored love circle members, d) a player is selected from said groups of assembled players by said color, number and letter of said colored love circle member; e) a plurality of question cards each having a family oriented question printed thereon; f) a reader withdraws a single card from said plurality of cards, said reader reads said question to said selected player and said selected player answers said question within a selected time frame as determine by a timekeeper; g) a correctly answered card by said player qualifies said player to continually answer questions until said player answers said question incorrectly, a scorer records a count of said player's correctly answered question; h) a winner of a round of play is determined by said scorer, and i) subsequent rounds of play are conducted, each round having a single player advance to said final round, said final round is conducted like previous rounds of play. 2) A process of family related players as recited in claim 1 further comprising: j) said timekeeper, said scorer and said reader are selected from the players assembled about the game. 3) A process of family related players as recited in claim 1 further comprising: k) a bag receives said color coordinated love circle members designated by red, blue, green and, yellow. 4) Process of family related players as recited in claim 1 wherein said selected player answers a family oriented question. 5) A process of family related players as recited in claim 2 further comprising: l) said timekeeper monitors time as said selected player answers said question. 6) A process of family related players as recited in claim 1 further comprising: m) said selected player who wins said round of play also wins a prize. 7) A process of family related players as recited in claim 1 further comprising: n) each said selected player from said groups is limited to a selected time period. 8) A process of family related players as recited in claim 2 wherein said reader reads said question selected by said selected player, said timekeeper records a length of time that said selected player answers said question up until the maximum time of about one minute, said scorer tabulates the score of the selected player. 9) A process of family related players as recited in claim 1 wherein said scorer determines a winner of said round of play from the highest score of said round of play. 10) A process of family related players as recited in claim 10 wherein said winner of said round of play receives a prize and advances to the final round of play. 